Supporters defend Kern against recall

OCEANSIDE — A group opposing the recall of Oceanside Councilman Jerry Kern says it will rally forces to defend the beleaguered official.

Citizens Against the Recall Effort, a political action committee separate from Kern's campaign, carries many of the same themes the councilman does and describes the special election as a wasteful, union-driven coup d'etat.

“From our perspective, this whole recall is a sham effort,” said David Shore, a lawyer who, like Kern, is a former president of the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce.

“This is a public-safety-union-driven attempt” to take control of the City Council, Shore said. A three-member council majority is friendly to business and development.

The police and fire unions spent $46,000 to collect the 11,389 signatures needed to force a recall election. The firefighters union criticized recent budget cuts supported by Kern and Councilmen Jack Feller and Rocky Chavez, saying they threaten the public and front-line firefighters.

“With contracts coming up, they're trying to control both sides of the bargaining table,” said Shore, repeating almost verbatim one of Kern's arguments.

The City Council is expected to set an election date at its next meeting, which begins at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Oceanside Civic Center, 300 N. Coast Highway.

City Clerk Barbara Riegel Wayne is recommending that the election be held Dec. 8. In her report to the council, Riegel Wayne said that the special election is likely to cost the city $483,000 – an issue Kern's defenders use to attack the recall drive.

“I was pretty unhappy with the idea that the city is forced to spend a half-million dollars (on a special election) when Councilman Kern is up for re-election next year” in November, Shore said.

He and Tia Ballard-Gregson are co-chairing the anti-recall committee.

Jim Sullivan, an organizer of the recall effort, has said the drive is not just a union-backed attempt to gain a council majority. Sullivan said it grew out of residents' frustrations that Kern backed development interests at the expense of the community.

Sullivan cites Kern's support of a concrete batch plant near Loma Alta Creek, which the three-member majority of Kern, Chavez and Feller approved but which wasn't built; the extension of Melrose Drive to complete a link between state Routes 76 and 78; and construction of a freeway interchange at Route 78 and Rancho del Oro Drive.